The invention is directed to a system which interfaces a telecommunications device with a World-Wide-Web page and which interfaces a device connected to the World Wide Web with telecommunications facilities.
In recent years, Internet-based services/applications, especially services which provide information via the World Wide Web (hereinafter also the xe2x80x9cWebxe2x80x9d) as so-called Web pages, have experienced considerable growth. In fact, a large number of companies and individuals now have so-called Web sites that may be accessed via the Web. Moreover, more and more users are obtaining personal computers equipped with the appropriate hardware and software so that they can xe2x80x9cbrowsexe2x80x9d the Web to obtain information from various Web sites. The information that is supplied by a Web site may be volatile in some respectsxe2x80x94meaning that it may quickly become outdated and, therefore, may need to be updated periodically. Thus, the owner of a Web site/page will access his Web page in a conventional way using a personal computer or the like and update the information that the site downloads to a user that accesses the Web page. For example, if the Web page is a menu associated with a particular restaurant, then the Web-page owner using a personal computer (equipped with the appropriate software and hardware) will access his Web page/site via the Web and interact with software defining the site/page to update the menu.
Based on the foregoing, it appears that it would be difficult for a person who does not know how to use or does not have access to a personal computer or the like to independently maintain a Web page/site.
It is apparent from the foregoing that a user needs a personal computer or similar apparatus equipped with the appropriate hardware (e.g., a modem) and Web browser software (e.g., Netscape Navigator) to access the web. The user would also need other software to maintain a Web site/page. Disadvantageously, then, a person who does not have these things cannot access the Web or maintain a Web site/page. We deal with this problem, in accordance with an aspect of the invention by providing a system platform that interacts with a subscriber""s Web site/page in accordance with instructions received from the subscriber via a conventional telephone line. Accordingly, then, a subscriber of the inventive service only needs to have access to a conventional telephone station set or the like, e.g., facsimile, and place a call to the platform, and interact with the platform in order change/update the information that the subscriber""s Web site/page supplies to a user who accesses the site/page via the Web. Alternatively, a subscriber may access conventional telecommunications services via the Web and a particular Web page/service supported by the inventive system, in accordance with another aspect of the invention. In this sense then, the inventive system platform provides an interface between the World Wide Web (Internet) and the public switched telephone network.